Apple Wins Ruling on German Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tablet Ban

A Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer is displayed at the Samsung Electronics Co. headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable technology company, won backing from a German court for a ban on sales of Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet computer in the country. Photographer: Jean Chung/Bloomberg

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., the world’s most
valuable technology company, won backing from a German court for
a ban on sales of Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet
computer in the country.

A Dusseldorf court today upheld the temporary sales ban it
issued Aug. 9, rejecting Samsung’s bid to overturn it for the
most part. The judges won’t ban sales in other European Union
countries as Apple had sought, Presiding Judge Johanna
Brueckner-Hofmann said when delivering the verdict.

Apple, the maker of the iPad, won a second injunction at
the same court last week, forcing Samsung to pull the new Galaxy
Tab 7.7 out of the IFA consumer-electronics show in Berlin. The
legal battle between Cupertino, California-based Apple and its
closest rival in tablet computers is intensifying as an
increasing number of consumers use devices such as tablets and
smartphones to surf the Web, play games and download music.

“The court is of the opinion that Apple’s minimalistic
design isn’t the only technical solution to make a tablet
computer, other designs are possible,” Brueckner-Hofmann said.
“For the informed customer there remains the predominant
overall impression that the device looks” like the design Apple
has protected in Europe.

Samsung said it will appeal. The ruling “severely limits
consumer choice in Germany” and “restricts design innovation
and progress in the industry,” the company said in a statement
e-mailed after the ruling was issued.

Apple Design

The court didn’t compare the Galaxy tablet with the actual
iPad and instead focused on a design Apple filed with the
European Union intellectual property agency in Alicante, Spain,
Brueckner-Hofmann said.

Samsung’s tablet didn’t keep enough distance from the Apple
design, the judge said. While the back of the Galaxy is
different from Apple’s registered design, the important feature
is the front, which is nearly identical, she said.

“The crucial issue was whether the Galaxy tablet looked
like the drawings registered as a design right,” she said.
“Also, our case had nothing to do with trademarks or patents
for technology.”

The EU wide ban was upheld for Samsung’s German sales unit.
The court doesn’t have jurisdiction to issue an EU-ban against
Suwon, South-Korea based Samsung, itself, Brueckner-Hofmann
said.

Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston forecasts tablet
sales could reach about 2.4 million units in Germany this year,
up from 0.6 million in 2010, making it Europe’s third-largest
market after the U.K. and France.

The Dusseldorf court on Aug. 9 granted Apple a preliminary
sales ban in 26 of the 27 EU member countries, only to scale
back its reach a week later over jurisdictional issues.

Apple won a ruling over sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S, S II
and Ace smartphones in the Netherlands last month. Samsung filed
a lawsuit in London against Apple on Sept. 7. Details of the
case weren’t immediately available from the court.